Atheism, Gender, and "Woke" Culture

[@anarchords1905]

We have an SNP politician here in Scotland, Mhari Black, who describes "being woke" as, "Actively trying not to be a dick". I like that.

[@henrysurev6908]

Love that definition

[@jonnaking3054]

I'm honestly glad the Atheist and secular humanist communities talk about other social issues like being trans. Atheist conversations are important but seriously how many times do we need to have the First Cause debate, or the Argument from Fine Tuning debate?

[@ragg232]

Indeed

[@hihi123hiful]

Especially when its the major talking point from multiple religions organizations. If you’re an American organization you basically can’t separate religion from the wave of transphobia

[@BlarglemanTheSkeptic2]

*Woke* adjective 1. _Describes people who are conscious of, and care about, the difficulties and challenges that others face._ 2. _Non bigoted._

[@JGreez]

Woke - adjective 1. Describes people who have a serious case of toxic “feelsorryforism” and place people into oppressor or oppressee classes. 2. Bigoted towards everyone that disagrees with them.

[@BlarglemanTheSkeptic2]

​@@JGreezthe projection is strong with you!

[@sjhoneywell6235]

This argument always just boils down to "I want to be allowed to be prejudiced against people I don't like."

[@inkdollz1]

Dr. Ben is more of a real man than any insecure anti trans cis man. You guys kick ass.

[@worldgonemad5866]

Real man? Can you define what a man is?

[@tdb1726]

It seems like he spent the entire time trying to convince everyone he isn't bigoted but then insisted on bigoted positions. I'm surprised someone would bother calling into this show and spend 10 minutes dancing around "I want people to go by man or woman based on physical traits so it's easier to converse." Once he said "oh, and sometimes I vote Republican" I was like, "ooo that explains it."

[@acerx203]

This caller is trying very hard not to come off as a bigot, when he is a bigot.

[@jmags2586]

While I disagree with Austin's approach to the question of atheism including secular humanism because he focused on the language of it, I understand his original question about why sexuality and gender identity are intertwined with atheist organizations ONLY from the standpoint that many Christians who are questioning their faith are looking for answers more strictly related to religious belief. When I deconstructed my faith over 10 years ago, if sexuality and gender identity was as emphasized in atheist organizations as it is now, I may not have landed on atheism because it implies a package deal that I was not ready to accept at the time. I mean, I was a born-again Christian for over 30 years and homophobia/transphobia was baked into my worldview. If I had immediately been dismissed as a bigot while being in a place where I was questioning my faith, but was still ignorant about LGBTQ people (I'm sure you former Christians remember being in that place), I would have hesitated to join forces the same way that I did 10 years ago. Christians who have spent decades wrongly opposing the rights or even existence of trans people sometimes need to get a peek behind the curtain of religion first, and becoming more accepting and supportive of the LGBTQ community will most likely follow as we ask ourselves what other beliefs that we were indoctrinated into are wrong. I love how Dr. Ben handled the call and agree with him fully, I only wish this middle ground of nuance was discussed too.

[@dmc8092]

What I want to know is why he cares so much about this.